I have had constant sinus problems from a young age. Today I found out that I will likely require surgery. I always knew it was probably going to happen but I had kind of hoped that I was wrong. I am just feeling a little whiney.
Anyone ever had sinus surgery?
squash / 13764 posts
sorry to hear that! 
No advice, as i've never had sinus surgery, but hopefully it makes things much better for you!
grapefruit / 4712 posts
@hilsy85: I hope it does. I have a doctors appointment on monday to get everything scheduled. I will be scheduling after DS is 6 months old. Thanks for your thoughts.
coconut / 8279 posts
Nope, but it was suggested that I get it.
Sinus issues run in my family and a few of my family members have had the surgery. They've had great results - hope you do, too!
grapefruit / 4712 posts
@mrs. bird: @rachiecakes: Thanks for your thoughts ladies. My dad had pretty bad sinus problems prior to having surgery to correct it.
grapefruit / 4823 posts
I haven't but a woman I work with had it and she said its the best thing she ever did
GOLD / papaya / 10166 posts
@MrsRcCar: I don't have advice but I hope everything goes well.
grapefruit / 4712 posts
@Leialou: @BabyBoecksMom: Thanks for the support. I am very nervous about my appointment on monday.
coconut / 8861 posts
Bumping this up: I just had a CT scan last week with results saying that I need sinus surgery. After talking with my husband, I scheduled it for a little under a month from now.
Has anyone had it? What's the recovery like? I'm nervous. I think that my parents will watch the kids for a day or two to help us out.
pomelo / 5129 posts
I can safely say it's life changing.
The pain from the surgery was CAKE compared to the pain of a sinus infection. And I was having probably 10-12 infections a year because my passages were so teeny tiny.
I ended up getting an infection during recovery which was pretty brutal, but in the long run, it's so much better.
I was going to my ENT more than once a month, now I haven't seen him in probably 2-3 years.
pomelo / 5129 posts
Also, recovery wise, it was really annoying when the packing was still in because I just had the worst urge to blow my nose or sneeze.
I think it came out the next day though. Once it was out, I was willing to go on short trips to the store with my mom. I just looked a teeny bit swollen.
If you're able to have some help with the kids, you might want someone to be on hand for a few weeks for follow up appointments. There were a ton of follow ups as I healed inside my nose. I joked with my nieces and nephews that I had a professional nose picker.
pomegranate / 3895 posts
@cascademom: I had sinus surgery when I was in college. It was life changing - best thing I've ever done. I had been extremely sick with sinus infection stuff and was at risk of meningitis due to how bad my sinuses were -- it was actually semi emergency surgery based on the results of the CT scan. Recovery wasn't that bad, but I was drugged and wasn't taking care of little ones (obviously). If I was too active I would have bleeding, which was obnoxious. I was back to school in a week.
coconut / 8861 posts
@MaryM: Oh, I'm glad to hear that it was worth it to do. My left side is totally blocked. My ENT thinks it'll help with breathing better in general. Add weight loss to it and my snoring might improve. I've been struggling really bad with sinus infections lately coupled with snoring. When my ENT looked at my scan, he said that even irrigating it won't do anything right now. It'll keep getting infected no matter what.
@LBee: Good to hear that the recovery wasn't bad. I'm nervous since we've got a 16 month old and a 4 year old. The 4 year old will be able to handle it better, but the 16 month old has been needy lately with teething. I've put off some health issues for awhile, but getting a definitive word that I need surgery was enough for us to pursue it. Also, it'll be virtually free since we've hit our deductible with a sleep study, CT scan, and a million of appointments this year. Next year, I'll deal with my herniated belly button and DH will get clipped. We're all about meeting our deductible this year and next year!
grapefruit / 4712 posts
I opted out of surgery and changed my eating habits. We found my biggest trigger was dairy. I haven't had a sinus infection in well over 3 years. It doesn't fix the malformation of my sinuses but I don't mind so much with out the infections.
pomelo / 5129 posts
@cascademom: I didn't really have breathing issues, but was misdiagnosed with migraines because of how awful the sinus headaches were. Rinsing/Irrigating sometimes made the issues worse because it was forcing stuff out of lower sinuses and sending it up higher. It was pretty terrible.
The first year or so after the surgery I would occasionally feel a little off because instead of getting trapped in my head, drainage would head straight down my throat and into my stomach, but either I got used to that or allergy treatments also helped because I don't feel queasy like that much anymore either. But it was a side effect I wasn't expecting.
coconut / 8861 posts
I had my surgery yesterday. The packing and not eating much was miserable. I have to irrigate 3 times a day and am sleeping in a recliner for the next few days. I freak out about every sniffle, pain, and pressure right now. I'm working from home next week.
pomelo / 5129 posts
@cascademom: The first few days are the weirdest (I didn't really find them painful...but weird). I SO felt like I needed to sneeze, but it was just all the stuff up there.
coconut / 8861 posts
@MaryM: I agree. It's like the worst, dizzy sinus infection ever. I had sinus infection going into surgery too. I stopped irrigating because I knew it wouldn't do much good. Funny how I have one on surgery day.
pomelo / 5129 posts
Weird! I can't believe they'd operate while you have an infection!
I got a terrible one during recovery, but I think it was totally random. But since then it's been SO much better!
coconut / 8861 posts
@MaryM: He found it during the operation and scrapped out according to my husband. I got IV antibiotics and a script to keep it at bay. He also gave me Zofran for nausea too.
pomelo / 5129 posts
That's probably better than what I experienced. I landed in the ER because I had the world's worst headache. The infection was up in there really deep. It was horrid.
Glad they caught yours early!
coconut / 8861 posts
@MaryM: My husband and kids all had sinus stuff this week so it wasn't a big surprise. My doc was awesome about it. The doc said he was glad I went through with the surgery since it was bad there. With the aftercare, I should get a lot of relief.
coconut / 8861 posts
I'm a week post op. I did my first post op visit with the ENT. He took out the gel pad way up high in my nose. He also described my case as his "interesting anatomy" one where the surgery was fun to perform. He also mentioned that my sinus infection issues would have gotten much worse without surgery because the left side wasn't draining at all and had staph up there, so constant sinus infections.
I irrigate three times a day and still have quite a few appointments left to check on the healing. Right now, husband and the kids are coming down with sinus infections. It's weird to not be a part of it since it hits all of us usually. I'll still get sinus issues, but hopefully won't be as severe.
pomelo / 5129 posts
@cascademom: OMG. When my doctor did that I was so freaked out. I thought all the packing was already out! lol
It sounds like your surgery was perfectly timed!
coconut / 8861 posts
@MaryM: When I did my first irrigation, some of the gel stuff came out. My husband mentioned it after!! Weird having random gel come out of your nose. When he extracted it, I was really surprised by it. They weren't messing around with what they put up there to prevent bleeding.
With the sick family, I actually had a sinus infection going in and now am on antibiotics after. I got really lucky with the timing.
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